Primary Source Document Collections

Calisphere - University of California

Calisphere is the University of California's free public gateway to a world of primary sources. More than 200,000 digitized items — including photographs, documents, newspaper pages, political cartoons, works of art, diaries, transcribed oral histories, advertising, and other unique cultural artifacts — reveal the diverse history and culture of California and its role in national and world history.

World History Index and History Central Catalogue

Maintained by the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, this site indexes thousands of resources by country, era and topics. Need medical documents from World War One or a list of influential San Franciscans over the years, this is your resource.

Making of America

The Making of America at the University of Michigan is fascinating, because it ends with the turn of the 19th century. Prints and other such documents, heretofore in private stacks, have been placed online.

Historical Text Archive

Don Mabry's Historical Text Archive is one of the largest and best-cataloged collections.

Renaissance, The Elizabethan World

Explore the world of Elizabethan England. Includes information on...

• Life At Court
• Heraldry
• Sumptuary Laws
• Treason Trial
• Book of Orders And Rules

On example of the use of source documents is with Sumptuary laws. In Elizabethan England, these laws attempted to restrict the sumptuousness of dress in order to curb extravagance, protect fortunes, and make clear the necessary and appropriate distinctions between levels of society. An instance where viewing one document ("show me") can have more impact than a 1/2 hour lecture ("tell me").

U.S. National Archives and Records Administration On-Line Exhibits

NARA, the U.S. National Archives and Record Administration,now called just Archives, has just begun to display its holdings, almost all of which cannot be found elsewhere. For starters look at the collection of WWII posters and often-cited but not in full documents like the Emancipation Proclamation and the Japanese Surrender at the end of WWII. Information about the relocation of many Japanese in the United States can also be found by visiting the Smithsonian site.

The United States Supreme Court

The official site for the U.S. Supreme Court includes slip opinions that are released on the day that a case is decided, volumes of all of the Court's published opinions since October 1991, and oral argument and briefing schedules for current cases. While text is still the mainstay of the Court, the technology is used for its in-depth and daily update capacities.

Famous Trials

Famous Trials looks at everything from the trial of Socrates (399 B.C.) to Susan B. Anthony (1873) to the Nuremberg Trials (1945-49)and the recent Zimmerman ("Trayvon Shooting") Trial (2013).

Each trial includes multiple documents, including items like a Chronology, newspaper articles, transcripts, exhibits and images to make these precedent-setting events come alive.

Our Documents

Our Documents is a collaboration among many archive agencies to provide wider access to key U.S. History expressions of turning points. Often, texts include excerpts of these primary sources but students will gain greater understandings if they can read the entire document. Graphical documents, such as the Great Seal and Edison's patent of the electric light bulb, are included in addition to the more familiar treaties. The scope also reflects the "whole" United States, such as the Hawaiian annexation, child labor and Chinese exclusion and creation of Japanese internment camps, act. Students can view aerial photographs of missiles in Cuba. Whatever the topic, the "original" can be included!

Best History Sites

Best History Sites, in addition to the above features, is frequently updated so that historical resources, not typically accessible, are handy. For instance, background resources about Iraq, a topic not often taught in school, have been posted.

Spartacus

For a comparison between British and U.S. views of historical events look at Spartacus.

Angel Island

Children of Chinese immigrants, housed at Angel Island in San Francisco Bay, are collecting memoirs so that slice of history will be preserved.

Annenberg Classroom

This website connects Annenberg's award-winning, comprehensive curriculum on the Constitution and its amendments to daily civics news and student discussion. Their nonpartisan writers sift through national and local news daily and select current events expressly for social studies classrooms.

And at least once a week, they write an article on a portion of this news with links to our multimedia curriculum. Use these "Speak Outs" in your class or have students interact online in a moderated, national dialogue with their peers.

Visions From History

EDC has prepared lessons for students to scrutinize historical photographs for acquiring interpretation skills. The selection is interesting and varied.

Digital History Reader

The Digital History Reader is a content- and inquiry-based for teaching European and American history with illustrative, multi-media downloads.

Historical Thinking Matters

Historical Thinking Matters is a collaboration between the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University and Stanford University's History Education group. The resources can be used flexibly and creatively.The site has 5 inquiries, among which is the Scopes Trial and Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Boycott.Each site poses a central question. Short movies, timelines, relevant text references, contrasting views, and primary source documents with analyses. Students can also maintain an interactive notebook with additional resources and guiding questions. Teacher materials and strategies with lesson plans and student work samples.

Lyrical Legacy: 400 Years of American Song and Poetry

Lyrical Legacy helps teachers explore eighteen American songs and poems from the digital collections of the Library of Congress. Each song and poem is represented by an original primary source document, along with historical background information and, in many cases, sound recordings and alternate versions.

History Now

New content is added regularly to the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History website, including online exhibitions, videos, lesson plans, and issues of the online journal History Now, which features essays by leading scholars on major topics in American history.

Using Primary Sources

Primary sources are the raw materials of history — original documents and objects which were created at the time under study. They are different from secondary sources, accounts or interpretations of events created by someone without firsthand experience.

Examining primary sources gives students a powerful sense of history and the complexity of the past. Helping students analyze primary sources can also guide them toward higher-order thinking and better critical thinking and analysis skills.

The Teachers' resources section at the Library of Congress includes numerous resources like this for Professional Development.

Digital Collections

A list of the over 200 on-line collections maintained by the Library of Congress. You and your students can view maps & photographs; read letters, diaries & newspapers; hear personal accounts of events; listen to sound recordings & watch historic films.

Genocide Studies Program

Started as a study of the Cambodian Genocide , the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University explores what happened, why, and its aftereffects. Their research includes modern day events in Cambodia, Rwanda, and East Timor, as well as more historical events like the Nazi Holocaust, the genocides in Bosnia and Darfur, and on colonial and indigenous genocides.

The site includes a wide range of audio/video clips, bibliographies, databases, journal articles, maps and satellite images.

Not always an easy subject, but one that needs to be explored lest it happen again.

Chicago History Museum

The Chicago History Museum hosts an extensive collection of classroom resources covering curriculum for grades 1 through 12. The site includes both online and downloadable activities. Lesson plans span a variety of topics and meet a range of state learning standards.

This site focuses on Chicago and Illinois history. Check with museums near you to see what resources they have available on-line.